Because businessman Ryan Reynolds wants the rights to the series”ALFmainly use for replays and advertisements. Last year it was announced that Reynolds will launch his own streaming station with his company Maximum Effort. Available for free in the US since June 2023 through various streaming services such as Plex or Amazon Freevee, the Maximum Effort Channel shows an ad-supported TV program curated by Reynolds and his team at set times.
Bedtime Stories with Ryan has recently launched and is the first original format in which Ryan Reynolds reads stories. Now they have staged a real coup with the sitcom “ALF”. The series will run up and down on the Maximum Effort Channel from the end of July (By the way, in Germany the sitcom is only available as VoD – for example on Amazon Prime Video). But repeating old episodes isn’t the whole plan behind acquiring rights.
ALF: Promotional character for Ryan Reynolds
Because the Channel of Maximum Effort has no subscription fees, but is only financed by advertisements, special commercials have now been made with and around ALF. If the collaboration begins on July 29, 2023 with episodes of “Caturday” and “ALF” showing all day, there will be a run in between completely redesigned commercials that also feature the hairy, cat-eating cult alien. They also worked closely with “ALF” creator and original actor Paul Fusco to create these spots.
In a statement, Ryan Reynolds explains that the intention is to blur the lines between the series and advertising – a statement that will probably make some people choke a bit. A first video of what these spots should look like has also been published:
So don’t expect Ryan Reynolds to use the acquired “ALF” rights to reboot the much-discussed series or launch a movie. But that can still change. Finally, in the announcement of the rights acquisition, Reynolds states that he is a huge “ALF” fan. And who knows: if “ALF” reaches the Maximum Effort channel, he might consider further plans.